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(No Model.)

2 Sheets8heet l. A. O. BARNES. POST HOLE AUGBR.

N0..577,411. Patented Feb. 23, 1897.

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(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

A. O. BARNES.

POST HOLE AUGER.

No. 577,411. Patented Feb. 23, 1897.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ALEXANDER O. BARNES, OF DES MOINES, IOWA, ASSIGNOR TO J. G. JORDAN,

' OF SAME PLACE.

POST-HOLE AUGER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 577,411, dated February 23, 1897.

Application filed June 26, 1893.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALEXANDER O. BARNES, a citizen of the United States of America, and a resident of Des Moines, in the county of Polk and State of Iowa, have invented a new and useful Post-Hole Auger, of which the following is a specification.

The object of my invention is to provide improved means for digging post-holes, es-

pecially in hard dry soil and among small roots.

A further object of my invention is to produce a tool to facilitate the digging of postholes with a minimum degree of labor.

A further object of my invention is to provide a ratchet-handle for a post-hole anger, in order that holes may be dug in close proximity to the line of an existing fence.

A further object of my invention is to provide means for readily discharging the excavated earth from the auger.

My invention consists in the construction, arrangement, and combination of parts, as hereinafter set forth, pointed out in my claims, and illustrated by the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a perspective view showing the tool in position preparatory to digging. Fig. 2 is a perspective view showing the tool in position preparatory to discharging the excavated earth therefrom. Figs. 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 are detail views of the ratchet-handle and the component parts thereof. Fig. 8 is a transverse sectional view on the line 00 w of Fig. 1. Fig. 9 is a like view to Fig. 8, the cutting-blades being removed. Fig. 10 is a vertical sectional View on the indicated line y 'g of Fig. 8. Fig. 11 is an edge view of one of the cutting-blades. Fig. 12 is an interior face view of the blade shown in Fig. 11. Fig. 13 is a perspective view of the hinge employed to secure a blade to the supporting-disk.

In the construction of the device as shown, the numeral 10 designates a solid supportingdisk, preferably made of iron and provided with Webs 11, arranged in pairs on the upper surface thereof.

By a solid disk is meant one made of a single piece of material, as contradistinguished from one made in two or more sections hinged or otherwise connected.

$erial No. 418,905. (No model.)

A slot 12 is formed. in the disk 10 within each of the pairs of webs, which slots are adapted to admit bolts 13, by means of which some of the cutting-blades are secured to the said disk.

The cutting-blades (shown in detail in Figs. 11 and 12) are each composed of the bladebody 14, having a cutting edge, and ahead 15, bent at right angles to the body 14 and vertically apertured to admit the bolt 13. The blade-body 14 is bent torsionally at its juncture with the head 15, in order that one edge thereof may be brought into a vertical plane outside of and parallel to the plane of the remaining edge. The blade-body 14 is torsionally bent at 16, in order that the extreme point thereof may be approximated to the points of adjacent blades and at the same time be positioned at one side of the common axis of the assembled blades, thus producinga spiral lower end portion on each blade.

It will be observed that by reason of the torsional or spiral formation of the lower portion of the blade the extreme end portion of said blade is thereby brought into such a position that the greatest transverse dimension thereof will occupy a plane at approximately forty-five degrees from the horizontal when the anger is employed in a vertical bore.

Flanges 17 17 are formed on the upper surface of the disk 10 parallel to each other, and pairs of transverse coinciding apertures 18 are provided in said flanges. A hinge member 19 is secured to the head of a cuttingblade, which for convenience I will designate as the dumping-blade 20, and is secured to the disk by means of a pivot 21 passed through the apertures 18 and through one end of said hinge. Ears 22 22 are formed on and extend upward from the hinge 19, to which ears is pivotally connected the lower end portion of a dumping-rod The head of each of the cutting-blades, except the dumping-blade, is confined between two of the webs 11, whereby sidewise movement on the part of said blades is rendered impossible.

A stem 24, preferably made of gas-pipe, is seated within the central portion of the disk 10, and vertically extending therefrom is provided with a handle, as hereinafter described.

A dumping-sleeve is mounted upon the stem 24 and provided with ears 26 26, to which ears the upper end of the dumping-rod 23 is pivotally connected. The interior diameter of the sleeve is considerably greater than the exterior diameter of the stem 24. A pin 27 is seated in the stem 24, as shown in Fig. 1, the visible portion of said pin being of slightly less length than the difference in diameter previously noted.

A hub 28 is formed on the disk 10 at its center and provides a seat for the stem 24, the said hub being vertically bored and interiorly screw-threaded to receive an exteriorlyscrew-threaded portion of the said stem. A pin 29 is passed through perforations drilled transversely through said hub and stem,there by forming a rigid connection therefor.

A ratchet plate 30, provided with a' central stem 31, is mounted on the upper end of the stem 24 by the insertion of the stem 31 within the stem 24, the said stems being rigidly connected by means of a transversely-positioned pin 32. The ratchet-plate 30 is inserted within the lateral wing 33 of a T 34 and is confined therein by means of a reducer 35, mounted upon the stem 34 and adapted to be screwed into the said lateral Wing 33. A plate 36 is integrally formed on the interior of the T 34 directly above the ratchet-plate 30. A handle 37 is mounted in the horizontal portion of the T 34 and is secured therein by means of the retaining-screw 38.

A plurality of radial notches are formed in the upper face of the ratchet-plate 30, and coinciding perforations are formed in the plate 36, handle 37, and top of the T 34, which perforations are adapted to admit a pin 39, vertically positioned therein. The aperture in the plate 36 is angular, and that portion of the pin 39 playing in the said aperture is also angular. The lower portion of the pin 39 is beveled in such a manner as to ride over the plate 30 and out of the notches therein when the T is rotated in a given direction upon the stem 24. A shoulder 40 is formed on the pin 39 directly above the plate 36, and an expansive coiled-wire spring 41 is mounted in the perforation in the handle 37 about the pin 39, said spring impinging against the shoulder at one end and at its other end engaging against the interior of the top of the T 34. The perforation in the top of the T 34, in which the pin 39 plays, is smaller than the perforation in the handle and plate 36, and the pin may be reversed by withdrawal vertically out of the said plate and rotation hori zontally, and may be reseated in such amanner as to rigidly connect the T and plate 30 or reverse the ratchet action thereof as desired, the spring maintaining atall times a yielding pressure upon said pin.

When a hole is to be made adjacent to the line of an existing fence, the handle 37 is positioned as shown by dottedlines in Fig. 2, in order that the forward movement of the then projecting portion of said handle,

through an arc, may result in a one-half rev- 4 olution of the auger prior to the contact of the handle with the fence, the auger being rotated by the engagement of the pin 39 with the notched plate 30. The auger remains stationary during the rearward movement of the handle, the pin 39 riding over the said notched plate by reason of the chamfer formed on the end of said pin, thus bringing the ratchet devices into play.

The process of positioning the handle is as follows: The reducer 35 is unscrewed and the T 34 lifted away from the plate 30, the pin 39 rem oved downwardly, the screw 38 removed upwardly, the handle moved longitudinally through the T into the desired position, the pin 39 repositioned upwardly, the T 34 repositioned on the plate 30, and the reducer repositioned by screwing, the handle being now in a position from which it may be removed at will, not being fixed to the T.

It is obvious that by reason of the torsional or spiral form of the lower ends of the cutting blades the points of said blades, in the rotation of the auger, will feed into the earth in a downwardly-oblique direction, thus lifting portions of the soil and breaking the same, the body portions of the said blades reaming out the sides of the hole and making a smooth cylindrical excavation.

By reason of the body portions of the blades having parallel axes and having the inwardlybent points the earth is easily retained in the auger when boring in dry crumbling soil, the auger full of earth bearing on all sides against the wall of the hole, and being packed against the disk by the torsional points of the blades retains thereby an approximatelycylindrical form while being elevated.

The torsional points used in combination with the straight body portions in the blades tend to pack and solidify the earth in the auger to a great degree, a special advantage in dry crumbly soil.

A considerable advantage is found in the torsional bend of the blade-points, inasmuch as said points when so bent will cut roots by an oblique motion rather than a straight lateral cut and at the same time lift and break said roots to some extent, thus rendering the boring of holes in grubby soil much less laborious.

Afurther advantage is found when boring in gravelly soil in the employment of blades partly torsionally bent and partly straight, the points of the blades penetrating beneath the small stones and forcing them to the center of the anger in such a manner as that the cutting edges of the straight portion do not contact therewith, thereby retaining said cutting edges in a sharp condition for reaming purposes.

What I claim is- 1. A post-hole auger comprising a solid disk, a stem secured to said disk, a handle secured to said stein, four cutting-blades radially adjustably secured to said disk, one of IIC said blades being hinged to said disk, and

means for oscillating said hinged blade, the

points of said blades being torsionally bent.

2. A post-hole auger comprising a stem, a disk secured to one end of said stem, a ratchethandle secured to the other end of said stem, cutting-blades radially adjustably secured to said disk, one of which blades is hinged to said disk, and means for operating said hinged blade, as set forth.

3. In a post-hole auger, the combination of a solid disk, means for rotating the same, and blades fixed to said disk, each of said blades comprising a longitudinally straight body portion 14 in a vertical plane, a head 15 fixed to the body portion at right angles thereto, said body portion being torsionally bent at its juncture with said head portion, and a point formed on the end of said body portion opposite to said head and bent torsionally at 16, thereby positioning said point at an angle of about forty-five degrees from the horizontal when the auger is employed in a vertical bore, each said blades on the forward side of said point portion and the corresponding side of said body portion having a cutting edge, the several blades when assembled having the axial lines of their body portions parallel to the principal axis of the auger.

4:. In a post-hole auger the combination of four cutting-blades, the lower ends of which blades are torsionally bent, heads formed on said blades, a disk, three radial slots in said disk, webs on the opposite sides of said slots, the heads of three of said blades being respectively positioned between said webs, bolts passed through said slots and heads, whereby said three blades are secured to the disk, flanges formed on and extending upward from said disk, the fourth blade hinged to said flanges, means for oscillating said fourth blade, and means for rotating said disk on an axis common to said blades, the longitudinal axes of the body portions of said blades being vertical and parallel to each other.

5. A post hole auger having a disk and means for rotating the same, three blades fixed to said disk, flanges formed on said disk, a hinge pivoted between said flanges, an additionalblade fixed to said hinge and means for oscillating said hinge conj unctively with the blade secured thereto.

6. A post-hole auger having a ratchet-handle, comprising a ratchet-plate on the stem, and a pin 39 reversibly mounted on the handle, and engaging said plate.

7. A post-hole auger having a stem and cutting devices secured thereto, a handle fixed to the upper end of said stem, and pawl-andratchet mechanism interposed between said stem and handle and connecting the same, whereby said stem may be rotated in a given direction by the reciprocation of said handle through an arc, as set forth.

8. A post-hole auger comprising a solid disk, four cutting-blades secured to said disk, three of said blades being fixed to said disk, the fourth blade being hinged to said disk, and means for rotating said disk, each of said blades comprising a longitudinally-straight body portion, a head portion bent at right angles to said body portion, said body portion being torsionally bent at its juncture with said head portion, and a point portion formed on the end of said body portion opposite to said head portion, and torsionally bent at 16, each said blades on the forward side of said point portion and the corresponding side of said body portion having a cutting edge, the, several blades when assembled having the axial lines of their body portions parallel to the principal axis of the auger.

9. In a post-hole auger, a blade comprising a longitudinally-straight body portion, a head portion bent at right angles to said body portion, said body portion being torsionally bent at its juncture with said head portion, and a point portion formed on the end of said body portion opposite to said head portion but on the same side thereof, said point portion being helically bent at an angle of approximately fortyfive degrees, and the forward side of said point portion and the corresponding side of said body portion having a cutting edge.

10. A post-hole auger comprising the following elements, to Wit: a stem; a handle secured to said stem; a disk secured to said stem opposite to said handle; and cuttingblades secured to said disk, each of said outting-blades being formed with a body portion, a head portion bent at right angles to said body portion, the body portion being bent torsionally at its juncture with the head portion, and a point portion formed on the end of the body portion opposite to the head portion and helically bent at 16, a cutting edge being formed on the forward side of the point portion and the corresponding side of the body portion; the several blades when assembled having the axial planes of their body portions parallel to the principal axis of the auger.

In testimony whereof I hereunto have set my hand, this 5th day of October, 1892, in the presence of two witnesses.

ALEXANDER O. BARNES.

In presence of- S. 0. SWEET, J. R. CAMP. 

